At about 2am the wind finally gave up and I can't tell you what a huge relief that was after 2 days. We woke to a lovely calm sunny hot day. We had all had a great sleep and once we had showered we felt fantastic and ready to continue.

We had been told that there was not a lot to see in Dodge City unless we were familiar with 2 US TV programs. We decided not to bother stopping here and we had already decided to go to Fort Larned which was fairly close by.

It was a much better day for driving and we reached the fort after about an hour.

This is part of the national Park Service so we got Holly and Zach to complete another Junior Ranger Badge while we were looking around the fort.

This place was built by the Military in about 1850 but was only used for about 20 years. Mainly I was used as a Military presence in the area near the Santa Fe Trail to ensure there was no trouble with the settlers, traders and the Indians ( whose land the trail was passing through) it was also used by the Military during the Civil war.It was very interesting, particularly because they had furnished the buildings with reproduction furniture and clothing, bedding etc so it looked exactly how it would have done. We saw barracks with all the bunks, soldiers uniforms, etc. there was a hospital, officers mess officers living quarters etc . some of the soldiers had even carved their names into the outside walls dating back to 1871.

The kids did a good job answering questions and earning their badges and hopefully learned something useful.We had a lovely picnic lunch outside under a picnic shelter and then continued our journey to Hutchinson, North East of Witchita, Kansas.

We ended up at the Kansas State Fairgrounds where we were able to pay for an overnight spot to park with power and water etc. this is a huge place a bit like the Hawkes Bay Showgrounds but with more permanent buildings and offices .

There was also a small riding competition going on so there were a few horses around and other people camping near by.